Here at Ausbury Headquarters, we are becoming addicted to Facebook. However, is anyone else really annoyed by the new targeted ads in the left column? How many times a day to I need to be reminded that my abs are non-existent? How many girls in their underwear does my teenager have to see every day?
My son and I did some research and here’s how to block all the bothersome ads on Facebook. This is quite easy to do if you’re using Firefox – just use the Firefox add-on called Adblock Plus and add a few custom filters.
How to block Facebook ads within the Firefox browser:
1. Go to this page: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1865
2. Click: Add To Firefox
3. Wait for Install button to become active then click it.
4. Restart Firefox.
5. When Firefox opens, you should see a tab: Add Adblock Plus Filter subscription
6. If you want to block ads on many other sites, click the button next to EasyList (USA), then click Subscribe.
7. Under the Tools menu in Firefox, select Adblock Plus Preferences.
8. Click the Add Filter button.
9. Copy and paste the following filter: facebook.com#*(social_ad) and click OK.
10. Repeat steps 7 and 8, then copy and paste the following filter: facebook.com#*(social_ad_advert) and click OK.
11. Close Firefox, then open it and go to Facebook. Adblock Plus should block all Facebook ads.
If you haven’t yet ditched Internet Explorer, here is the download link for Firefox:
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/
We’re still searching for an easy way to block Facebook ads in Internet Explorer. I’ll keep you posted as we keep looking.
*** UPDATE December 2, 2009 ***
Just added a Macbook and have figured out how to block Facebook ads in Safari via a custom CSS file. Here’s how:
1. Open the TextEdit program.
2. Create a new file and be sure to click Format > Make Plain Text
3. Copy and paste this into the new file you just created:
#ssponsor, .footer_ad, .banner_ad, .social_ad, .ad_capsule, .sidebar_ads, .adcolumn, .admarket_ad, .sidebar_item.sponsor, .emu_sponsor, .home_sponsor { display: none !important; }
4. Save the file with this file name: custom.css and make sure to click the Use.css button. Put the file somewhere easy to find on your hard drive.
5. In Safari, click on the Safari menu, then go to Preferences, Advanced, Stylesheet. Select “Other” and choose the custom.css file saved in Step 4 above.
6. Refresh Facebook and your ads will be gone.
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